ADL raps Wodka vodka ads for stereotyping

The Anti-Defamation League criticized the New York ad campaign of Wodka vodka for reinforcing anti-Semitic stereotypes.

The ads feature two dogs, one wearing a Santa cap and one wearing a yarmulke with the message “Christmas Quality, Hanukah Pricing.” According to the ADL, the billboards were featured in several locations in New York.

“In a crude and offensive way of trying to make a point that their vodka is high quality and inexpensive, the billboards evoke a Jewish holiday to imply something that is cheap and of lesser value when compared to the higher value of a Christian holiday,” Ron Meier, ADL’s New York Regional director, said in a statement Tuesday.

“Particularly with the long history of anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money, with the age-old notion that Jews are cheap, to use the Jewish holiday in dealing with issues of money is clearly insensitive and inappropriate.”

On Wodka’s website, other ads include a sheep wearing a sombrero with the message “Escort quality, Hooker pricing.”